Saban says Tagovailoa 'made a lot of progress' on injured ankle Wednesday

TUSCALOOSA, Ala., — After a bit of uncertainty earlier in the day, Nick Saban provided a positive update on starting quarterback Tua Tagovailoa Wednesday evening.

“Tua made a lot of progress today, first time that some of the soreness has gone out,” Saban said during his post-practice news conference. “We tried to make a little progress. He still didn’t do a lot in practice today. We’ll see where he’s at tomorrow and kind of go from there.”

For a second straight day, Tagovailoa was fully dressed out for practice save for cleats. While the left-hander is still limited as he continues to nurse his injured right ankle, he did participate in a few throws early on during the media viewing period.

Tagovailoa was able to return from a high-ankle sprain less than three weeks from surgery as he led a late comeback bid in Alabama’s 46-41 loss to LSU over the weekend. After committing two costly turnovers in the first half, the Heisman contender finished the night 21 of 40 for 418 yards and four touchdowns. Following the game, he walked off the field noticeably favoring his injured ankle.

“He's got soreness in his ankle from playing in the game. ... Just like last week, he'll probably be a game-time decision as to whether he can or can't play,” Saban said earlier in the day during his appearance on the SEC teleconference. “I don't even know for sure if he'll be able to practice fully today. We expect him to be able to do some things. We’ll just have to wait and see, it’s kind of day-to-day.”

During his Monday news conference, Saban said that Tagovailoa’s soreness was "as to be expected” and stated the quarterback did not create any further issues by playing against LSU.

Despite Wednesday’s encouraging news, Tagovailoa still remains a game-time decision for Saturday’s matchup against Mississippi State. If he’s unable to go, Alabama will turn to Mac Jones, who previously filled in against Arkansas.

Jones completed 18 of 22 passes for 235 yards and three touchdowns during the Crimson Tide’s 48-7 victory over the Razorbacks. Through eight games, the redshirt sophomore has completed 70.4 percent of his passes for 472 yards and four touchdowns with an interception

“I thought Mac did a good job in the Arkansas game, and I thought he did a good job of preparing that week,” Saban said. “This is a little different type of defense. There’s a lot more pressure, a lot more stunts. They probably pressure you about 50 percent of the time. They’ve got a lot of stuff that they do on third down. So, this is a much more challenging preparation, I think, for him, but he’s done a good job of handling it. He’s smart, and we’ll see how he plays in the game. I can’t tell you whether a guy’s going to play good or bad. We just try to prepare him the best we can, and most of the time, the guys that practice good play pretty well. And he’s practiced pretty well so far this week.”

Alabama, (8-1, 5-1) will travel to Starkville, Miss., on Saturday for an 11 a.m. CT kickoff against Mississippi State (4-5, 2-4). The game will be televised on ESPN.

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